This invention relates to a method and means for automatically coding and inputting Chinese characters in digital computers, and more particularly to a method by which any Chinese character can be automatically coded by the computer for being inputted therein by simply handwriting the Chinese characters on a writing board operatively connected to the computer.
At present, no one is content with the prevailing input methods of Chinese characters for digital computer use because all of the known input methods are not only complex but also difficult to operate in the computer. The main reason is that the known input methods for Chinese characters have to fulfill a prerequisite condition, i.e. to manually prepare a coding system and assign each Chinese character a definite code or certain symbol according to the strokes comprising the character, before storing the required characters in the computer. However, as each Chinese character is written with a number of strokes of varying sizes and relative locations, not only is the coding system very complicated but also the input operations are hard to perform because they have to be done through a special keyboard adopted to known input methods, and comprehensive training is required. Therefore, as far as the applicant of this invention is concerned, no known coding approach has solved the problems outlined above.